Even before actual polling, the ruling Mahayuti has wrested 68 out of 69 seats, where the candidates were elected unopposed in the municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra. On the last day of withdrawal of candidature on Friday, the BJP emerged the biggest gainer with its candidates elected unopposed in 44 seats.While the BJP has the highest number of candidates who have won unopposed, the Shiv Sena has 22, NCP two and the Islamic Party one.The BJP has 15 candidates in Kalyan who won unopposed, followed by six in Bhiwandi, two each in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, six in Panvel, four in Dhule, six in Jalgaon and three in Ahilyanagar. The Shiv Sena has seven candidates in Thane (also the home turf of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde) who won unopposed, two in Bhiwandi, seven in Kalyan and six in Jalgaon. The Ajit Pawar-led NCP won two unopposed contests in Jalgaon. The lone seat bagged by the Islamic Party unopposed was in Malegaon.As many as 453 candidates or 20 per cent of the total candidates withdrew their candidature on Friday. Till the last day of filing of nominations (December 30), as many as 2,516 nominations were filed, out of which 2,182 were valid while the rest were rejected. After withdrawal of nominations on Friday, the total number candidates who will be contesting the civic elections stand at 1,729.Officials said symbols will be allocated on Saturday afternoon, following which the final list of contesting candidates will be published.BMC data shows the highest number of 34 withdrawals took place in Mumbai’s N ward, which covers the Ghatkopar area. This was followed by 25 withdrawals in H East (Bandra East) ward, 24 in L ward (Kurla) and T (Mulund) wards. At Mumbai’s F-south (Lalbaug, Parel) and P-east (Malad East) areas, 21 withdrawals took place.BMC data also show the highest number of applications — 182 — were filed in M/East ward (Deonar) followed by 133 papers in K/West ward which covers Andheri and Lokhandwala.Story continues below this adMeanwhile, the ruling parties left no stone unturned across the state to put pressure on rebels to withdraw from the fray. From Nashik and Solapur to Mumbai and Nagpur, dramatic events unfolded across the state, resulting in the death of one person in Solapur.In Solapur, two groups within the BJP attacked each other, which reportedly resulted in the death of a political worker. Police was deployed to bring the situation under control. In Nashik, where the BJP faced strong backlash from party workers for giving tickets to outsiders, BJP leaders fought with each other during withdrawal of nominations.In Mumbai, despite the party putting in best efforts to quell dissent, five BJP rebels have decided to contest: from ward no 60, 173, 205, 177 and 180. Similarly, the Thackeray brothers — Uddhav and Raj — too failed to rein in rebels and make them withdraw from the frya in nine wards.In neighbouring Bhiwandi, both the Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS filed candidates against the other. In Panvel, seven Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidates withdrew from the race, handing victory to the BJP candidates.Story continues below this adIn Nagpur, BJP’s rebel candidate Kisan Gawande was locked in his house by his supporters as BJP MLC Parinay Phuke was sent to his home to pursue him to withdraw. Finally, Gawande requested supporters to allow him to obey party’s order.In the Congress too, MLAs Vikas Thakre and Nitin Raut were busy throughout the day to pursue party rebels to withdraw, promising them bigger responsibility in the organisation.In Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, which witnessed BJP workers abusing party leaders and ministers for preferring outsiders over loyalists, several workers were pursuaded to withdraw their candidature. However, Prashant Bhadane-Patil, who had attempted self-immolation, refused to withdraw from ward number 2.